The Royal Regiment, and Other NovelettesGrant, James
History
The Royal Regiment, and Other Novelettes
Grant, James
Scotland -- Fiction; Scotland -- History, Military -- Fiction
The Scottish Government, in 1702, raised a corps of Horse Grenadier
Guards, afterwards incorporated with the United forces, and now
represented by the Life Guards.
Towards the close of the 17th century, the clothing of the British
troops varied; hence, we find, that in the year 1685, when the North
Lincolnshire (now 10th) Regiment of Foot was raised by John, Earl of
Bath, it wore blue coats, which were lined with red, and the men had
waistcoats, breeches, and stockings all of red, and round Cavalier
hats with broad brims, which were turned up on one side, and
ornamented with red ribbons. The companies of pikemen* alone wore
red worsted sashes. Shortly after the Revolution in 1688, the 10th
Foot were clothed in scarlet, like the rest of the British Infantry.
* The _last_ pike perhaps used in the British Service we saw carried
by a sergeant of Captain Wyatt's Company of the Royal Artillery in
1835, when marching for embarkation for Britain, out of Signal Hill
Barracks in Newfoundland.
In 1687, the "old Tangier Regiment," or, Queen's Own Foot (now the
2nd Regiment), which was raised in 1661, for the defence of that
portion of Africa which was ceded to Britain as the dowry of the
Infanta of Portugal, wore a red frock coat with skirts turned back,
loose green knickerbockers, white stockings, black broad-brimmed
hats, looped up on one side, and shoes with rosettes. In the buff
belts were long rapiers and fixing daggers, while a collar of
bandoliers was worn across the chest.
William III. ordained in 1698, "that no person whatsoever should
presume to wear scarlet or red cloth for livery, except such as are
in His Majesty's service, or the Guards," yet, for all that, scarlet
was, and is still, the livery of more than one noble family in
Scotland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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